The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing connectors useful in mounting an electric part, such as, e.g., an integrated circuit (IC), a capacitor or a resistance, and electrically connecting the electric part to a circuit board. More particularly, this invention relates to a method of simultaneously making a plurality of such connectors.
A known photoresist process is not applicable to form a conductive pattern on a vertical surface (i.e., a side face) of connectors. Conventional methods manufacture a metal plating part and a non-plating part separately. In conventional methods, a thermoplastic resin having good plate adhesion is injection molded to form a primary molded body having a specific surface on which a conductive pattern is formed. Another thermoplastic resin having poor plate adhesion is then injection molded on the primary molded body to form, integrally with the primary molded body, a secondary molded body which does not include any surface on which a conductive pattern is formed. The whole surface of the resulting molded object is plated with a metal. This allows only the specific surface of the primary molded body to be plated with the metal to form a conductive pattern.
The conventional methods involve relatively complicated manufacturing processes and require two different materials and molds, thereby having drawbacks of rather low production efficiency and high manufacturing cost.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide a method of making connectors which is relatively efficient and involves relatively low manufacturing costs. Specifically, it would be desirable to provide a method of making a plurality of connectors simultaneously. More particularly, it would be desirable to provide a method of making a plurality of connectors simultaneously wherein the front, rear and side faces of the connectors each have both conductive and non-conductive patterns formed thereon.
Methods of making connectors are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,049,244; 4,949,453; and 4,858,313; each of the foregoing references being hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
However, the aforementioned U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,049,244 and 4,858,313 do not teach or suggest a method of making a plurality of connectors. Furthermore, the aforementioned U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,949,453 and 4,858,313 do not teach or suggest a method of making a plurality of connectors wherein the side faces of the connectors have both conductive and non-conductive patterns formed thereon.
Accordingly, a primary object of the invention is to provide a novel method of manufacturing a plurality of connectors simultaneously in order to improve the efficiency of production and reduce the manufacturing cost associated with connector manufacturing processes.
A further object of this invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a plurality of connectors simultaneously, wherein the front, rear and side faces of the connectors each have conductive and non-conductive patterns formed thereon.
These and other objects which are achieved according to the present invention can be readily discerned from the following description.